Friday, July 28, 2017

I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on The Last Ship, Good Behavior, Angie Tribeca, new TBS shows, Mysteries of the Missing, One Day She'll Darken, MythBusters, Honey Badger Grit, Cobra King, City on a Hill, and Animal Kingdom.

In celebration of the epic drama The Last Ship at Comic-Con International, TNT is releasing the official season four trailer after playing it exclusively for fans who attended the panel. The fourth season of The Last Ship is slated to launch with a two-episode premiere on Sunday, Aug. 20, at 9:00, across TNT platforms.

- Award-winning actress Michelle Dockery will be back on the bad side when she returns as thief and con artist Letty Raines, whose life is always one wrong turn or one bad decision away from implosion in the hit TNT drama Good Behavior. Juan Diego Botto, Terry Kinney, Lusia Strus and Joey Kern also star in the seductive drama, which was created by Chad Hodge and Blake Crouch and is based on a series of books by Crouch. The second season of Good Behavior is slated to premiere across TNT's television, mobile and digital platforms on Sunday, Oct. 15, at 9:00.

- Turner's TBS has taken another step toward earning its comedy series merit badge by ordering a fourth season of the hit series Angie Tribeca, starring Rashida Jones. And in a shameless attempt to grab some much-deserved awards attention, the fourth season will welcome a new cast member: two-time Emmy® winner Bobby Cannavale (Boardwalk Empire) who has proven time and time again that he is irresistible to the Academy. Fingers crossed!

- This fall, TBS will enter the next phase of its ongoing brand evolution with a slate of three new original series, plus the eagerly anticipated second season of a returning favorite. Leading the pack on Tuesday, Oct. 24 will be TBS's new scripted comedy The Last O.G, starring and created by superstar and multiple Emmy® nominee Tracy Morgan alongside creators and executive producers Jordan Peele and John Carcieri. This marks the exciting return of Morgan to series television as he stars opposite Tiffany Haddish, who is hot off the heels of the box office success Girls Trip. TBS will also add (mostly) friendly competition to the mix with the new head-to-head celebrity rap battle competition Drop the Mic, hosted by Method Man and Hailey B aldwin and based on the popular segment from The Late Late Show with James Corden, premiering Thursday, Oct. 26. Fans can also expect a comedy-driven reboot of a classic game show with Snoop Dogg Presents The Joker's Wild, coming this fall. And finally, starting Sunday, Nov. 19, TBS will once again lead in to Thanksgiving Week with the season 2 premiere of the critically acclaimed series Search Party.

- In this day and age of modern technology and surveillance monitoring almost every detail of our lives, it seems inconceivable to us that something or someone could just disappear off the face of the Earth. Now a new Science Channel series, Mysteries of the Missing hosted by Emmy®-winning actor Terry O’Quinn (Lost, The Patriot), pursues plausible explanations to some of the most infamous disappearances of all time. The series premieres Saturday, August 26 at 10:00.

- Turner's TNT has greenlit straight to series the new drama One Day She'll Darken. Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman, Monster) is attached to direct the pilot and potentially additional episodes, and Chris Pine (Wonder Woman, Hell or High Water) is attached to star in all six. Sam Sheridan, author of A Fighter's Heart and The Disaster Diaries, is set to write the six-episode series, inspired by the autobiography of Fauna Hodel. The series is being produced by Turner's Studio T, with Jenkins, Michael Sugar (Spotlight, 13 Reasons Why), Sheridan and Pine serving as executive producers and will shoot this fall.

- MythBusters will explode back on to Science Channel this fall with all-new episodes and an all new-team. Brian Louden and Jon Lung, who earned the right to be called MythBusters by displaying killer build skills and science smarts during MythBusters: The Search, will showcase their awesome talents by building and executing new experiments involving rocket powered swords, exploding gas tanks, airbag disasters and more. The new 14-episode season of MythBusters will debut on Wednesday, November 15 at 9:00.

- Journey into the depths of exotic habitats with some of nature’s most extraordinary creatures with two brand-new Wild Wednesday specials on Smithsonian Channel. From the dry, barren terrain of the Namibian savanna to the lush rainforests of India, meet two of nature’s most unique creatures – the tenacious honey badger and deadly king cobra. Follow these incredible animals on Smithsonian Channel as they navigate their unforgiving environments and fight for survival in Honey Badger Grit, premiering Wednesday, August 9 at 8:00, and Cobra King, debuting on Wednesday, August 16 at 8:00.

- Showtime announced a new one-hour drama pilot, City on a Hill, to be executive produced by Academy Award® winners Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, written by Chuck MacLean (Boston Strangler), and directed and executive produced by Gavin O’Connor (The Accountant, Warrior). The project will also be executive produced by James Mangold (Logan, Walk The Line) and Emmy nominee Jennifer Todd (Jason Bourne, Memento) for Pearl Street Films. Produced by Showtime, City on a Hill is based on an original idea by Affleck and MacLean. The announcement was made today by David Nevins, President and CEO of Showtime Networks Inc.

- Turner's TNT has renewed its original drama Animal Kingdom for a third season as strong multiplatform viewing helped make the series cable's only Top 20 drama this year to show growth among Adults 18-49 in its second season. Emmy® and Tony® winner Ellen Barkin, Scott Speedman, Shawn Hatosy, Ben Robson, Jake Weary, Finn Cole, Molly Gordon and Carolina Guerra star in Animal Kingdom, which is produced by John Wells Productions in association with Warner Horizon Scripted Television. New second-season episodes premiere across TNT platforms Tuesdays at 9 p.m. (ET/PT), with the season fi nale set for Aug. 29. TNT plans to launch the third season in 2018.

Monday, July 24, 2017

TBS used to be the place where multicam sitcom still happened. Then two and a half years ago it premiered Angie Tribeca, a weird show with a weird rollout (running a twenty-five hour ad free marathon). Since then it has debuted a string of offbeat comedies, each worth checking out (which continues next month with the premiere of The Guest Book). Of course as a fan of Power Rankings, something has to come last and in my TBS Power Rankings, I would have to put People of Earth last (Angie Tribeca, The Detour, The Guest Book, Wrecked, Search Party, People of Earth).

Still, People of Earth was a weird alien abduction story where the aliens may be more absurd than the humans they mess with. I forgot just how involving the show was until I watched the very lengthy “previously on” at the start of the season two premiere which went a full two minutes. So basically our group of alien abductees support group leaned of proof of aliens and Ozzie had a memory that everyone in the support group had been abducted as children. And the lone non-abductee in the group, Gerry finally got beamed up.

If the aliens in the first season were not weird enough, they get reinforcements in the new season in the form of a cube. Erik the Cube to be exact. He is a floating cube. And he is the new leader. Also joining the cast is Nasim Pedrad (Saturday Night Live) as an eager FBI agent who had an embarrassing moment that has kept her from being assigned her first case. But is now tasked to find Jonathan Walsh who has gone missing after his robot exploded which ripped off part of his human mask, revealing his reptilian face. People of Earth may not be the best show on TBS, but it is weird fun and it is only getting weirder in season two.

Sunday, July 23, 2017

Claws: So Jenn is going to put two and two together that the people who killed Roller were also Desna’s foster parents. I guess that would be a mighty big coincidence. Not that Roller is actually dead, he is hanging out by a mountain of public hair. Though I am not sure why he just does not snatch the buzzer from the old chick to keep him from shocking him.
You can download Claws on iTunes.

The Strain: Usually I complain during season premieres that I do not remember what happened and the short “previously on” segments were not cutting it. I was smart enough to go on YouTube before the premiere and watch a lengthy season recap. Oh yeah, Angel died, the councilwoman died; oh yeah and that little twerp of a son set off a forking nuclear bomb and doomed the human race simply because his father killed his vampire mother WHO WAS TRYING TO KILL HIM. Ugg. And now that twerp has an annoying haircut. Now we are hear nine months later (um, do does they make a new instructional video every month saying how long it has been) and the humans are essential enslaved. What exactly does Fett want with a nuclear bomb? Does setting off a second bomb end nuclear winter?
You can download The Strain on iTunes.

I’m Dying Up Here: Cassie is supposed to be the hot one on that comedy special? The others better be really funny. I wonder if CBS actually did a Women Are Funny Too special back then.

Preacher: Well that was some unnecessary flashbacks. It would have been more entertaining had we just got to watch them watching Bob Ross the whole time.
You can download Preacher on iTunes.

Casual: “Leah and Leon”: that sounds like a spinoff title. And of course she proposed with some weird big show. Oh my goodness. But poor Alex, the self-centered part of him thought he was going to be best man when he could not even get groomsman. But I fear him as the officiant. I guess the wedding will be the season finale. Kind of ominous if so considering the first two seasons ended with a funeral.
You can stream Casual on Hulu.

The Challenge: Dirty 30: So the Dirty 30 season started out with just 28 contestants. Okay, CT’s passport issues will eventually get fixed because he is in the “This Season On” package. But what went on with SmAshly (who looked a lot better with the shorter haircut)? She seems to quit every season, including last season right before the final. But actually left this time because the airline lost her bra? Do they not have Target in Columbia to get more? And they just let her leave this time, not even a TJ scolding. And then how can you have “the thirty dirtiest players in the history of the Challenge” then bring in about six new people. And what the fork is non-binary? Still the actually challenge was pretty entertaining. Shocking to see Darrell exit this early, though apparently not really, it is another season where people will be fighting to get back in the game apparently.
You can download The Challenge: Dirty 30 on iTunes